The K-Files - Phoenix Hoax

It's just bad news after bad news...

I can't seem to catch a break lately. In March, my dream of seeing a UFO was crushed after only a week. Now, it seems my hope for a major new UFO event to sink my investigative teeth into has similarly been destroyed. As I stated in last week's column, I was totally prepared to follow this latest Phoenix Lights Redux story through whatever twists and turns of government disinformation and cover-up shenanigans might have developed. As it turns out, the one thing I wasn't prepared for was how quickly it would be revealed as a hoax.

No corny government explanations, no additional footage, and no linkage to hyperdimensional physics...heck, there wasn't even enough time for any of the go-to skeptics and believers to come out in support or against it. Shame on you, Mr. Hoaxer. You are a sick, lonely man-child that nobody could possibly love.

What drives someone to perpetrate a hoax such as this? And what kind of effect will it have on the field of Ufology? Let's dig in...Full Article.

The K-Files - Seeing Signs

Are you the kind of person that sees Signs…sees miracles? I know I am. I just saw it the other night, in fact.

I’m speaking of course about M Night Shyamalan’s 2002 thriller about faith, family, and alien invasion. Considering the proximity of its airing to this unfolding Phoenix Lights Part Deux business, I can’t help but smile at the coincidence.

Or, as Mel Gibson put it, “Is it possible that there are no coincidences?”…Full Article.

Review: Street Kings - Directed by David Ayer
Rated R for gang violence and strong language

With a screenplay by the guy who wrote the novel that would go on to be L.A. Confidential and the hit/miss scribe behind Ultraviolet and Equilibrium, and directed by the guy who wrote the screenplay for Training Day, Street King's pedigree would suggest an epic crime movie.

Unfortunately, what we got instead was a cliche-ridden knockoff of The Shield...only not nearly as well done.

In Street Kings, Keanu Reeves plays hardcore LAPD detective Tom Ludlow--a phone book swinging, bad guy killing crooked cop with a heart of gold and a damaged liver. Forest Whitaker is his controlling boss. And no cop movie would be complete without an Internal Affairs officer, played oddly enough in Street Kings by Hugh Laurie.

As far as the plot is concerned, Street Kings is a twisty tale of murder, revenge, and corruption. If you've seen anything else in the inner-city police action/drama genre, nothing will seem particularly fresh. It's a (mostly) entertaining concoction of elements, just don't expect them to break any new ground.

Forced to play a real person and not some daemon-slaying, kung-fu fighting prophet, Reeves brings a sense of maturity far flung from his Speed days. Meanwhile, Oscar winner Forest Whitaker further shows his mastery of the eye-bulging freak out. Both leads play their roles with competence, but it's essentially more of the same that should be expected from them.

In all, Street Kings feels a lot like the product of a desire to create the stereotypical cop drama. It's formulaic in a way that insures safe story telling--void of anything that will help it to be remembered in the years to come.

Rating: 3.5 / 5 (7/10, 70%)

The K-Files - Bring Back the Bomb

Only two things scare me and one of them is nuclear war.

I've become obsessed with watching atom bomb test footage on the Internet. Along with satellite photography of hurricanes, few things in this world can both stun me with their beauty and horrify me with their power like the rising mushroom cloud of detonated nuke. In concept, they are just such an outlandish weapon. It takes a special kind of stupid to create the means to your own demise, but damn if we didn't do it anyway.

For this week's K-Files, I thought I'd share with you some of my favorite archival video that I've come across in my travels. So sit back and marvel at the shocking elegance...Full Article.

The K-Files - Battlestar Returns

The Cylons were created by man. They evolved. They rebelled. There are many copies. And they have a plan.

It is a simple enough setup, but these opening lines to the Sci Fi Channel's re-imagined Battlestar Galactica deceptively mask the series' intricate space opera plot. Considered by many to be nothing short of the greatest television show of all time, Galactica expertly bends genre definitions by fusing action, drama, love, philosophy, and science into a final product so well polished that many episodes seem to rival the standards of most feature-length films.

Last Friday marked the beginning of Galactica's fourth and final season--and if the premier is any indication of the quality to be expected over the coming weeks, then we are definitely in for a treat. To quote Dwight from The Office, if you are not watching Battlestar Galactica, "Then you're an idiot."...Full Article.

Are you a bad enough dude to burn the rope? Find out in the Flash game craze that has got the Internet goin' nuts.

http://www.mazapan.se/games/BurnTheRope.php

The premise is simple. The gameplay even more so.

*Edit*
Just in case you need it (that boss can be frustrating), there's a walkthrough up at IndieFAQs.